And already all the imaginative students and IELTS candidates groping for something to say about their favourite film select this one by default. The 1990s have returned to EFL conversation classrooms : (

Amazingly, my students haven't mentioned it at all. Instead, it came up in a teacher discussion of films and plays today when we talked about poorly written scripts.... So, don't worry, the 90s are still the 90s.

Some Russian students have, not surprisingly. Older ones, though. Maybe if an utterly fantastical Hollywood version ever... surfaces... then we can look forward to more IELTS speaking drivel about this instead of the Titanic.

WOW - "On this bitter cold grey day in Gotenhafen, scattered with snow and sleet, exact numbers of those aboard will never be known. By the time the Gustloff is ready to leave port, well over 10,000 anxious evacuees are crammed aboard the ship.

Within 9 hours, 3 torpedoes will hit the Wilhelm Gustloff. It will sink to the bottom of the Baltic Sea , taking over 9,500 souls with it."

When I was researching my family tree a couple of years ago, I found that my great great uncle had worked on the ship on its maiden voyage. Not a huge surprise since I'm from Belfast and had known about the naval connection in my family but it still raised eyebrows to know that I had some kind of family connection with the ship. As he got off at Southampton, like most of the Belfast workers, it's a bit less to talk about though. I can only imagine how he must have felt when he heard the news!

With a possible death toll of 4,375 people it was far worse than the loss of life on the Titanic.

But the Titanic was full of rich white people, while all these ferries and overcrowded tired old ships plying the seas throughout the 3rd world are packed full of poor non-white, non-English speaking folks... Historical racism at it's best.

London has now spent millions on building a museum on the site of the construction of the Titanic. They have watched shipbuilding disappear from shipyards in these islands. Then they subsisdise a MUSEUM based on the story of a FILM !

Yes, and the Government of trhe UK of GB and NI has pumped millions into this nonsense of a Museum. Meanwhile in South Korea, they are building ships and selling them to the Royal Navy ! (Well to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary which is de facto the same thing.)

Last edited by scot47 on Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:12 am; edited 1 time in total

The Titanic Belfast Museum is actually a monument to Belfast's social, historical, industrial and maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland and Wolff shipyard.

The derelict land was renamed the Titanic Quarter in 2001 and earmarked by Harland and Wolff for redevelopmet over the following 10 years. The aim was to regenerate the city of Belfast and attract tourists to the area. Only 50% of funding is from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the other 50% from the private sector.

There was a complete erosion of British shipbuilding between 1950 - 1980.
By 1950s, Japanese and Korean companies were building ships more quickly and cheaply, whilst the UK struggled with trade unions, high wage costs and a strong pound (then!). Japanese shipyards were producing more tonnage than the UK by 1956 and by 1964 had completely outstripped British production. In the Labour party manifesto of 1974, it was decided to nationalise the shipbuilding industry, which happened in 1977 with the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act.

Look at what happened to Scott Lithgow in Greenock, Scotland.

As a result of the UK's inability to build ships at a competitive price, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary had to go overseas : Sea Crusader (1996) was built by Kawasaki, Japan; Sea Centurion (1997) was built in Italy; Diligence (1981) was built in Sweden; Argus (1981) was built in Italy.

The latest order for 4 MARS tankers (designed by British Defence Services) has gone to South Korea for construction. All of this is carefully related at the Titanic Museum, which I visited last week. It is definitely not just based on the film.